


After the Disaster

by Laylah



Category: Kamen Rider OOO
Genre: M/M, Post-Series, Reunions, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-07
Updated: 2016-04-07
Packaged: 2018-05-31 18:39:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6482542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laylah/pseuds/Laylah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Welcome back," Eiji says, and the words lift a weight off his chest.</p>
<p>"...I'm home," Ankh says slowly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	After the Disaster

It's one year, six months, and three days after his final battle as OOO when Eiji comes back to Japan. Passing through customs doesn't feel real; taking the train is like sleepwalking; even walking up the steps to the Kogami Foundation headquarters seems like he's watching someone else's life. It's only when he's in the medal research lab and face to face with Kogami-san's bristling pride that he's sure he's all the way awake.

"The progress that we've made with your new information," Kogami-san declares, "has been EXCELLENT!" He gestures at the bustling lab, his sleeve shimmering as he moves. "We've made TREMENDOUS PROGRESS thanks to you!" He shows Eiji around, pointing out the core medal study stations, the cell medal refinement process, the fancy machines that measure the amount and kind of desire each medal contains. Everything is AMAZING and FANTASTIC in Kogami-san's estimation, and Eiji agrees easily.

But it's not until the last station in the lab, locked off in its own tiny room, that he feels quite that excited himself. "And here," Kogami-san says, hushed for dramatic effect, "we have managed to SYNTHESIZE CORE MEDALS! _GLORIOUS_!"

"It really, really is," Eiji says. He reaches into his pocket for the treasure he's been carrying with him for the last year and a half. "So.... Can you synthesize a new core medal from these pieces?"

"Aaah," Kogami-san says gravely. He grasps Eiji by the shoulders, staring very seriously into his eyes. Eiji stares back hopefully. "CONGRATULATIONS!" Kogami-san beams. "What a fantastic day! You have FOUND your DESIRE!!"

Eiji's first instinct is to dissemble, to say no, he's not sure, he wouldn't call it that, but he sits on the impulse for a few seconds and realizes that it's not the truth. "Yeah," he says instead, as Kogami-san puffs up with delight. "I want to bring him back."

Kogami-san commandeers a researcher, who takes the broken halves of Ankh's medal so carefully, almost reverently, it gives Eiji a warm feeling behind his ribs. She fits them into place in the machine, adjusts her goggles, and flips the switch.

It's almost frustrating how easy it seems: the machine grinds to life, light swells and bursts, and when Eiji blinks away the afterimages there's one whole medal in place of the broken halves, deep ruby red and etched with a stylized bird. There's suddenly a lump in his throat.

The researcher removes the new medal from the machine and offers it to him. Eiji holds out his hand to take it and realizes he's shaking. Ankh's medal is warm in his palm. He lifts it up, studying it closely; the symbol has all the shapes he's gotten familiar with as he carried the halves around.

"Happy birthday," he whispers.

* * *

Kogami-san sends him home with copious congratulations, a bag of cell medals, and a boxed birthday cake with gobs of icepop-blue frosting. Eiji has actually sprung for a hotel room for once, because he's going to want privacy while he tries this out, and he doesn't want to get Hina and Chiyoko's hopes up when he's not sure yet that it's going to work.

He dumps out the cell medals in a pile on the bed, unboxes the cake and leaves it on the table, and digs Ankh's medal out of his pocket. He just holds onto it for a second, hoping that the sense of Ankh's presence he can feel right now is real and not just wishful thinking. 

"Ankh," he says. "I'm sorry for keeping you waiting." He sets the core medal down carefully in the center of the pile of silvery cell medals. "Please come home."

For a few long, nerve-wracking seconds, nothing happens. 

"Please," Eiji says. "Ankh—"

The medals shiver and hiss, clinking as they slither over each other. Eiji holds his breath, watching them stretch into a humanoid shape, watching that shape fill in and the light blossom—

Ankh is lying on his back in bed, staring up at the ceiling, looking just the way he did in Shingo-san's body. He lifts his left hand and stares at it, flips it over and stares some more, those staccato gestures Eiji remembers so well. His glance flicks to Eiji, searching, uncertain.

"Welcome back," Eiji says, and the words lift a weight off his chest.

"...I'm home," Ankh says slowly. The exchange is so ordinary, so ritually comfortable, but this moment is anything but ordinary. Eiji reaches out and clasps Ankh's hand before he can withdraw it. Instead of yelling at him, Ankh smiles, the expression tiny and lopsided as always. He lets Eiji pull him up off the bed, and then stands awkwardly but uncomplaining as Eiji hugs him.

"How do you feel?" Eiji asks.

Ankh laughs his tiny bitter laugh. "I'm a Greeed, I don't—" He stops. "...Maybe I do feel something." He lifts one hand to touch Eiji's arm and then just holds on tight to his sleeve. 

"There's food if you're hungry," Eiji says. He thinks he might cry. 

"Ice pops?" 

Eiji shakes his head. "I didn't have a way to keep them cold. But it's sweet the same way."

Ankh pulls away from him to survey the room and marches over to the cake. Without even pausing he reaches out, plucks one of the fat icing roses off the top, and pops it in his mouth. He stands there for a few seconds, back tensed and expression suspicious, before he breaks into an incredulous smile that lights up his whole face. "It _is_ sweet," he says. "It's good."

He scoops up another blob of icing and stuffs it in his mouth. His fingers leave streaks in the cake's surface.

"Here, that's not—you're supposed to use a fork, hang on." Eiji goes looking for the forks that were tucked into the box. Ankh for his part does not hang on—he enthusiastically keeps ruining the surface of the cake by gouging out more chunks of buttercream. When Eiji finds the forks and tries to stick one into the cake to demonstrate, Ankh swats his hand.

Eiji bursts out laughing. "You're ridiculous," he says. "I'm just trying to keep you from getting icing all over your fingers."

Ankh looks down at his hands as if he hadn't considered that problem until now. He shrugs, then raises his fingers to his lips to _lick_ the icing off them, staring challengingly at Eiji.

"That, uh, that works too," Eiji has to admit. His face feels hot. 

"You've changed," Ankh says. He licks his fingers again and Eiji can't help watching the flicker of his tongue between his lips. "You didn't want like this before."

"It's because of you," Eiji says. "I wanted you. Back, I mean."

Ankh raises an eyebrow and Eiji knows that hasty amendment didn't convince either of them.

"That's another thing Greeeds can't really experience, you know. Desire for it, yes. But the pleasure itself..." He trails off.

They both look at the mangled cake. "But you liked that," Eiji says.

"It's good," Ankh agrees. He looks at Eiji again, thoughtful. Eiji stares back, realizing that he's just now actually noticing how beautiful Ankh is. It's funny, because with Shingo-san it's never been an issue, but something about Ankh's expressions, or the intensity of his eyes, or maybe even the ridiculousness of his hair—something about him makes him seem just unfairly pretty, like something that doesn't quite belong in the same world as ordinary people.

But he _does_ belong here. Everyone has worked too hard to bring him back.

"Let's try," Eiji says.

Ankh abandons the cake and storms toward him with such intensity that for a second Eiji thinks they're going to have to have another fight. Ankh grabs him by his shirtfront and yanks him close, then just freezes there, staring, that intense, wide-eyed stare he has that makes Eiji—that has _always_ made Eiji feel like he wants to do something to help soothe that obvious need. It's just that this time, he finally has an idea what that something is. He tilts his head, leans in, and presses his lips to Ankh's, slow but certain. 

For a few seconds Ankh holds completely still. Then he drags Eiji up flush against him and kisses back like he's starving for it.

"Do you know," he says, in between frantic kisses, "this was how I knew, mmn, that I was changing? That I wasn't, mm, a normal Greeed anymore. Wanting your attention. Wanting to—touch you." He pulls back and looks Eiji in the eyes. "Even though you were infuriating."

"Hey, you made me pretty mad, too," Eiji says. He touches Ankh's face, because he can. "But as soon as you were gone I wanted you back."

That's enough talking for now, though—words get raw so fast, and it's just so much easier to kiss Ankh again, chasing away the last traces of sweetness, finding him metallic and vibrant when the icing is gone. Ankh's hands card through Eiji's hair and grip so tight it pulls, but because he's not pulling _away_ , Eiji doesn't mind. Let him hold on tight. Let them both hold on tight, after everything it took to get here.

He teases Ankh's tongue with his own, hooks his fingers in Ankh's belt loops and hangs on, learns the feeling of Ankh's whipcord-lean body pressed against his when they're _not_ fighting at last. Ankh trills in his throat as they kiss, a weird birdlike sound that's honestly pretty cute. He fights his way out of his jacket and lets it fall on the floor, then attacks Eiji's overshirt so Eiji has to shed it in a hurry to keep it in one piece. That's awesome for a minute and then not enough, so Eiji drags Ankh's t-shirt up next.

They have to break apart a little to get shirts off, and in the pause they look at each other, then the bed, and yeah they're both having the same good idea at the same time. They tumble into bed, shirtless, rolling over to lie side by side with their legs tangling together and their arms around each other. Ankh can't seem to get enough of kissing and that's great—the stunned and excited look in his eyes makes Eiji's heart flip-flop in his chest.

Still, he says, "It feels good?" because he just kind of wants Ankh to say it out loud.

"Idiot." Ankh smiles. "I wouldn't keep doing it if it didn't."

"That's so great," Eiji says, and then Ankh's mouth is on his again.

He lets his hands explore, tracing all the parts of Ankh he can reach: the knobs of spine, the slope of shoulder muscle, the smooth plane of stomach. When his fingertips brush a nipple, Ankh jumps. That's interesting! His own aren't very sensitive, but he strokes Ankh's again more deliberately and gets a shiver in return.

Then Ankh hooks a leg tight around Eiji's and uses the leverage to grind their hips together, hard and slow. "Oh," Eiji says, "oh, _wow_." He does it back and Ankh trills again, clutching at him hard enough to bruise. They keep moving, together, little explosions of sensation going off all along Eiji's nerves as Ankh gasps and pants for breath.

"Come on, more," Ankh manages, letting Eiji go and tugging at his belt. His clothes take way more work to get out of than Eiji's drawstring pants and slip-on shoes, so when Eiji's naked he helps, peeling off Ankh's stupidly tight jeans. And hey, dropping a few kisses to fresh-bared skin on the way. 

He discovers that Ankh doesn't worry about tomorrow's underwear or today's either for that matter. He discovers that Ankh has a little wing-shaped birthmark on the inside of one thigh. He discovers that Ankh has a stripe of bright red in his hair in a very surprising place.

He discovers that Ankh is beautiful all over.

"If you keep making that dumb expression, your face will stick like that," Ankh says, but he's looking away bashfully and his smile is escaping confinement, so the grumpy act isn't really working.

"Too late," Eiji says. He drags the covers down and they crawl underneath together and of _course_ Ankh's feet are cold, he probably does it on purpose, but it really doesn't matter at all. Not with the blankets making a warm cocoon for them, not with the smoothness of Ankh's skin against his, not with the certainty of what he wants beating in his blood.

Ankh kisses him again, one hand drifting down to grab a handful of his butt and pull him closer. Eiji laughs into the kiss and retaliates, because it's silly—right up until the point where it's _hot_ and he's suddenly breathless.

"You're... _shining_ ," Ankh murmurs. "I thought you were broken, before. You seemed like you couldn't even feel desire like this."

"I don't think I could, for a while," Eiji says. "But I'm getting better." He kisses Ankh's throat, where the pulse hammers visibly through fine skin. "You've helped a lot."

Ankh snorts. "Humans always want to blame somebody else for what they want." But again, if Eiji listens to his tone instead of just his words, he seems happy.

"Does it work the other way too? Do you get to blame humans for what you want?" Eiji runs his nails down Ankh's back and gets a full-body shiver out of him. "I don't mind if you want to blame me."

"Good, because I'm going to." This kiss is like punctuation for that statement, a _so there_ in gesture instead of words. It's wonderful. 

Ankh gets a hand down between them and takes hold of him, and Eiji makes a noise he could almost be embarrassed about except that he feels so good. He tries reciprocating, which feels almost like touching himself and also completely different. Ankh bites his lip, almost too hard but not quite.

It only takes one or two false starts before they figure out how to make the rhythm work for both of them, but then they've always been a pretty good team. They keep kissing for most of it, until the rest is just too distracting and Eiji feels strung tight all the way through, until Ankh is panting little shallow breaths and rocking into his grip. Even then they're still close enough to breathe the same warm air, close enough for Eiji to watch the way Ankh's lip trembles as he tenses up.

"You can feel everything after all, huh," Eiji says, hushed and so happy.

Ankh nods. "I-I—ah—!" He looks almost panicky, eyes wide and then squeezed shut, and his strokes falter as he gets thoroughly, completely, the best possible kind of distracted. He shudders through it hard, gasping, the mess streaking his stomach and chest.

For a few seconds he just pants for breath, looking stunned, like he still somehow didn't believe that was going to work. Eiji waits, propped on one elbow and watching.

And eventually Ankh scowls up at him. "You're supposed to care if you get to finish, too."

"I do," Eiji says. He totally does. "I just don't mind waiting a few minutes."

"Tch." Ankh starts stroking him again and Eiji picks up where he left off pretty easily, rocking into it and shivery with pleasure. This is definitely better than doing it himself; the slight awkwardness is more than made up for by the part where they're together, sharing the experience, taking care of each other.

The orgasm, when he gets there, is pretty great too, but the best thing about it is that he's having it because Ankh wanted to help him do it.

Flopping with an arm around Ankh's shoulders afterward, that's also on the awesome list. It's a long list tonight. Eiji lies there as his heartbeat slows down to something like normal and doesn't even try to wipe the smile off his face.

Ankh looks over, then makes a show of rolling his eyes. "You don't make any sense at all."

"Sure I do," Eiji says comfortably. He feels like he makes more sense now than he has in a very long time.

"That was what you wanted. I can tell." He shakes his head. "And that desire is satisfied. But you're still just this bright shifting knot of other ones."

Eiji hums, thinking about it for a minute. "That's pretty normal, though. Wanting a lot of things, but all of them in a less crazy way than it takes to make a Yummy. ...Like, right now, I want to tell Hina-chan and everybody that you're back. I want to buy you some of those ice pops I still owe you. I want to inhale about six bowls of oden. I want a nap. I want to do all the stuff we just did again sometime soon." He kisses Ankh's collarbone. "But mostly I want to not let go."

"But I'm gross and sticky," Ankh complains.

"That's why they invented showers," Eiji says, and doesn't move. "We can get one in a minute."

Ankh makes a face and Eiji really should know enough to duck and cover by now but he doesn't—and Ankh wipes the mess off his stomach with one hand and then smears it all down Eiji's front.

"Augh!" Eiji rolls away, grabbing one of the pillows to swat Ankh with it. But not very hard, because Ankh is laughing, and Eiji is laughing too, and his heart is so full of light he's breathless with it. Kogami-san was right. He's found his desire. But the beautiful thing is, he's found his fulfillment, too.


End file.
